National Standards are gaining more and more ground in DC. Read this article first. As always, arts are left out of the discussion. I doubt many people care, but I believe that long term, this is important for the arts to get on the same menu as English, Math and Science. There already are national standards for the arts.
Will these be recognized? How will national standards in math and English be incorporated to current ones?
To be honest, the Illinois State Learning Standards are worthless for the arts. Read them, and then return to the national standards. Even a layman can see how much better the national standards are.
I wish there was more accountability in the arts. I wish our assessments were reported in the school report card. I'm not sure how many arts educators agree with me. School accountability is here to stay and I think some subjects have been slow on the uptake. Can you imagine schools losing federal funds because their don't meet AYP based on the arts. Can you imagine administrators losing their jobs? I can only see positives from this.
What would my standards look like? Here are two general points:
1. Students must be able to create art.
2. Students must be able to appraise art. (Notice I did not use appreciate.)
The first point is probably WAY ahead of the second. Let's be honest, we really aren't good at teaching art appraisal. We struggle to appraise teacher quality for heaven's sake! Hopefully the national standards are more intricate and go further than what we currently have. Many people claim this would lead to a national curriculum. Um......did I miss something? Don't we already have that somewhat? All students take two standardized tests (ACT, SAT) which reflect basic curricular material. All students take similar subjects and I believe most curriculum are already fairly close to each other. You lose autonomy for accountability but you gain quality. More on this soon....
6.22.2009
Cedar Point Recap
A play by play of Cedar Point.....
We left at midnight in a slight downpour. I was worried about the weather, considering it was looking bad on weather.com. The bus ride was nice, the roads were clear and we were able to make record time. We arrived at McDonalds, yes, The McDonalds, and ate breakfast. I tried their iced mocha, not impressed. We left for the park in slight rain and cloudy skies. When we arrived twenty minutes later, we gathered under a pavilion and waited for almost an hour and a half. We warmed up and ran through the fight song. The rain showed no sign of letting up. At 10:13, our guides came out and we lined up. The parade had begun!!! We marched through the park and around a small loop. Our total time was 8 minutes. But, the best part was the rain suddenly stopped!! I coudn't believe our luck. We quickly put the instruments away and headed back into the park for 11.5 hours of rollar coasters.
I hung out with the "not so sure if rollar coasters are our thing" group all day. We had a great time. I played my wealth down in Time Crisis, my favorite arcade game. I was also witness to perhaps the world's most insane ride, the Dragster. This ride shoots you to 120 mph in two seconds and then up 22 stories. Yes, straight up. And then, straigt down. The total time is 14 seconds. It's nuts. In fact, they built grandstands just so people could watch. We cheered as every Batavia kid bravely took their place.
The kids had a great time as they piled back on the bus at 10:20 pm. Within minutes, the bus was silent and we were on our way back. Not only had we dodged rain, but the park was barely populated because of a poor weather forcast.
We arrived at AGS around 4 am and I arrived at my place around 6 am. I slept until 5 pm the next day.
Best band trip ever.
We left at midnight in a slight downpour. I was worried about the weather, considering it was looking bad on weather.com. The bus ride was nice, the roads were clear and we were able to make record time. We arrived at McDonalds, yes, The McDonalds, and ate breakfast. I tried their iced mocha, not impressed. We left for the park in slight rain and cloudy skies. When we arrived twenty minutes later, we gathered under a pavilion and waited for almost an hour and a half. We warmed up and ran through the fight song. The rain showed no sign of letting up. At 10:13, our guides came out and we lined up. The parade had begun!!! We marched through the park and around a small loop. Our total time was 8 minutes. But, the best part was the rain suddenly stopped!! I coudn't believe our luck. We quickly put the instruments away and headed back into the park for 11.5 hours of rollar coasters.
I hung out with the "not so sure if rollar coasters are our thing" group all day. We had a great time. I played my wealth down in Time Crisis, my favorite arcade game. I was also witness to perhaps the world's most insane ride, the Dragster. This ride shoots you to 120 mph in two seconds and then up 22 stories. Yes, straight up. And then, straigt down. The total time is 14 seconds. It's nuts. In fact, they built grandstands just so people could watch. We cheered as every Batavia kid bravely took their place.
The kids had a great time as they piled back on the bus at 10:20 pm. Within minutes, the bus was silent and we were on our way back. Not only had we dodged rain, but the park was barely populated because of a poor weather forcast.
We arrived at AGS around 4 am and I arrived at my place around 6 am. I slept until 5 pm the next day.
Best band trip ever.
6.20.2009
Mister Rogers and The Expression of Care
My name is Nicholas Jaworski and I'm a new contributor to this blog. However, I don't want to spend any energy in explaining who I am - since I hope that my posts will reflect my philosophies about music education.
If you've wandered over to this blog, take 6 minutes to watch the entire video below. The date is May 1, 1969 (40 years ago!) and President Nixon wants to cut public television funding in half to help fund the war in Vietnam. Enter Fred Rogers. He's been producing his television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS for a couple of years. His goal is to convince the stuffy and cynical members of Congress to spend $20 Million on public broadcasting. The ending is simply cinematic.
His words are simple and beautiful. Mister Rogers has something to teach all of us concerning the "inner drama of childhood" and "the neighborhood expression of care". Music educators have a unique opportunity to reach out to students in order to help them express their own inner thoughts and feelings. This responsibility can manifest itself in numerous ways. Sometimes it means that students are physically creating new works to share with the world. And other times the simple act of working hard and succeeding at something is a profound expression of a student's work ethic and potential.
Those of us who are music educators must remember that our obligations to our students greatly outweigh our personal ambitions for our ensembles and classrooms. We must hold ourselves accountable for the experiences we provide our students in order to help foster a sense of curiosity in music and the arts.
As a side note, Mister Rogers had a degree in music composition and wrote all of the music on his show. So, I'm just saying - music is awesome.
If you've wandered over to this blog, take 6 minutes to watch the entire video below. The date is May 1, 1969 (40 years ago!) and President Nixon wants to cut public television funding in half to help fund the war in Vietnam. Enter Fred Rogers. He's been producing his television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS for a couple of years. His goal is to convince the stuffy and cynical members of Congress to spend $20 Million on public broadcasting. The ending is simply cinematic.
His words are simple and beautiful. Mister Rogers has something to teach all of us concerning the "inner drama of childhood" and "the neighborhood expression of care". Music educators have a unique opportunity to reach out to students in order to help them express their own inner thoughts and feelings. This responsibility can manifest itself in numerous ways. Sometimes it means that students are physically creating new works to share with the world. And other times the simple act of working hard and succeeding at something is a profound expression of a student's work ethic and potential.
Those of us who are music educators must remember that our obligations to our students greatly outweigh our personal ambitions for our ensembles and classrooms. We must hold ourselves accountable for the experiences we provide our students in order to help foster a sense of curiosity in music and the arts.
As a side note, Mister Rogers had a degree in music composition and wrote all of the music on his show. So, I'm just saying - music is awesome.
6.15.2009
Band Camp Update
WOW. Where to begin?
Last week was all about two things: getting to know the kids and developing fundamentals. I think I have most of the new names down at this point. The kids have been incredible. Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine Batavia kids doing what these kids have done. (Remember, I a Batavia High alum, class of 2001.) They have worked hard every day, every hour and every minute. What I have been the most impressed with, with all the positives I've witnessed, has been how incredibly nice and caring all the kids are. They pick each other up, they support each other, they joke around with each other, and they can sprint like wild to a swing set!! The story here is that because we are at AGS, we have a massive swing set and playground next to the field. You would never believe these are high school kids because the second we take a break (remember, we teach for 50 minutes and give them a 10 minute break) the kids are off to play on the monkey bars, swings, and yes..............the slide.
I give them a break because they seem tired and then, BAM! it's the Jungle Book all over again.
The AGS staff and principal, Sandy Miller, have been GREAT. Mrs. Miller's son Josh was one of my best friends growing up so it's fun to be back hanging out in Mrs. Miller's 'crib'. I probably slept over at her house a dozen times over my middle school years.
The neighbors have been 'colorful'. A few are confused as to why the aesthetic education afforded to Batavia High School students accounts for frequencies existing in or around their place of residence. Or, in other words, we are loud. I've told them that a generous donation to the Batavia High School Band Budget (BHSBB) would really help in noise reduction. They didn't think that was a good solution.
The kids can now go forward and backwards (we'll learn how to march sideways in August). Please encourage your students to 'show off' their new skills for you in the living room. Tell them to keep the heel vertical!
We also began playing through our show which is yet to be named. We are playing the music of Aaron Copland. The show will be around 7:30 minutes and is being designed by the famous Alan Spaeth. He's a monster in the marching band world and we're lucky to have him. I'll keep more details of the show on this blog. Our arrangers are Don Hill (another huge name) and myself (not a huge name). You can see some of his work here. In fact, the opener, that's marching band lingo for the first piece in a show, is Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland, the same opener we are using. The drill designer is Andrew Packer of Marian Catholic High School. For those of you who are new to the competitive marching band world, Marian Catholic is like the Yankees, Red Wings, Lakers, and Patriots put together.
The kids are really excited to show off their work. Please join us at the Cornboil the Friday before school begins.
Tomorrow night we head to Cedar Point. Pray for good weather.
Last week was all about two things: getting to know the kids and developing fundamentals. I think I have most of the new names down at this point. The kids have been incredible. Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine Batavia kids doing what these kids have done. (Remember, I a Batavia High alum, class of 2001.) They have worked hard every day, every hour and every minute. What I have been the most impressed with, with all the positives I've witnessed, has been how incredibly nice and caring all the kids are. They pick each other up, they support each other, they joke around with each other, and they can sprint like wild to a swing set!! The story here is that because we are at AGS, we have a massive swing set and playground next to the field. You would never believe these are high school kids because the second we take a break (remember, we teach for 50 minutes and give them a 10 minute break) the kids are off to play on the monkey bars, swings, and yes..............the slide.
I give them a break because they seem tired and then, BAM! it's the Jungle Book all over again.
The AGS staff and principal, Sandy Miller, have been GREAT. Mrs. Miller's son Josh was one of my best friends growing up so it's fun to be back hanging out in Mrs. Miller's 'crib'. I probably slept over at her house a dozen times over my middle school years.
The neighbors have been 'colorful'. A few are confused as to why the aesthetic education afforded to Batavia High School students accounts for frequencies existing in or around their place of residence. Or, in other words, we are loud. I've told them that a generous donation to the Batavia High School Band Budget (BHSBB) would really help in noise reduction. They didn't think that was a good solution.
The kids can now go forward and backwards (we'll learn how to march sideways in August). Please encourage your students to 'show off' their new skills for you in the living room. Tell them to keep the heel vertical!
We also began playing through our show which is yet to be named. We are playing the music of Aaron Copland. The show will be around 7:30 minutes and is being designed by the famous Alan Spaeth. He's a monster in the marching band world and we're lucky to have him. I'll keep more details of the show on this blog. Our arrangers are Don Hill (another huge name) and myself (not a huge name). You can see some of his work here. In fact, the opener, that's marching band lingo for the first piece in a show, is Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland, the same opener we are using. The drill designer is Andrew Packer of Marian Catholic High School. For those of you who are new to the competitive marching band world, Marian Catholic is like the Yankees, Red Wings, Lakers, and Patriots put together.
The kids are really excited to show off their work. Please join us at the Cornboil the Friday before school begins.
Tomorrow night we head to Cedar Point. Pray for good weather.
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